As I’ve mentioned in a recent post – this forum introduced me to, and sparked an intense interest in getting my C&R.
I’ve spent a lot of time reading all of the fantastic and informative posts here and a on bunch of the sites referenced here like www.surplusrifle.com & www.cruffler.com
--BTW- Many thanks to coinboy, Half-cocked, novus and the many, many others that have posted so much great information
In reading all of this - I’ve tried to figure out the most efficient way to go about getting my license as quickly and painlessly as possible. I thought it might be helpful to others if I relayed my experience (FWIW).
First, I read the many accounts of how long it was usually taking people to get the "F 7CR (5310.16) - Application for License (Collector of Curios and Relics)" forms when they ordered from the ATF website http://www.atf.gov/dcof/index.htm - It was usually about a month.
I’d also read several instances where folks said they’d called the ATF to order the forms and they were reporting that they’d gotten their forms in as little as a few days.
So, I chose to call the number on the forms ordering website – “For forms not listed, please call (301) 583-4696 to order.”
I made the call somewhere between 7/27-7/29. I spoke to a young lady who was a little terse at first, and requested 2 copies of the forms for myself (explaining that I’d like the second one just in case I made a mistake) and I also requested 2 forms my Father-in-law, who lives in Tennessee.
By the time I’d given her the addresses, thanked her for her time and bid her to “Have a good day”, she’d seemed to warm up a bit in the tone of her responses to me. I thought that maybe that was a good sign that I’d earned her good graces and might get the forms a bit quicker.
Well, so much for my first effort to speed things up. The 1 month mark came and went with no forms in my mailbox. A couple of days later, I saw a post from silverscreamer that he (or she) had ordered the application on 7/26, which was a Sunday - so I assumed that the order was placed from the ATF website. He received the forms on 8/29. I postulated that maybe they send the forms in batches and mine should come any day.
Sure enough, my forms arrived 9/1.
In with my 2 application forms was some sort of “picking ticket” that showed my name, order number, and among other things, a date of 8/6. The envelope was postmarked 8/31 and sent from Hyattsville.
So, the takeaway is - apparently they send the forms out in batches. More than likely, where your request falls in the cycle is what determines when you get them - not whether you make your order online or by phone.
This post has gotten long enough - I'll make another post on my strategy for getting the approval done faster than the typical 6-12 weeks.
I’ve spent a lot of time reading all of the fantastic and informative posts here and a on bunch of the sites referenced here like www.surplusrifle.com & www.cruffler.com
--BTW- Many thanks to coinboy, Half-cocked, novus and the many, many others that have posted so much great information
In reading all of this - I’ve tried to figure out the most efficient way to go about getting my license as quickly and painlessly as possible. I thought it might be helpful to others if I relayed my experience (FWIW).
First, I read the many accounts of how long it was usually taking people to get the "F 7CR (5310.16) - Application for License (Collector of Curios and Relics)" forms when they ordered from the ATF website http://www.atf.gov/dcof/index.htm - It was usually about a month.
I’d also read several instances where folks said they’d called the ATF to order the forms and they were reporting that they’d gotten their forms in as little as a few days.
So, I chose to call the number on the forms ordering website – “For forms not listed, please call (301) 583-4696 to order.”
I made the call somewhere between 7/27-7/29. I spoke to a young lady who was a little terse at first, and requested 2 copies of the forms for myself (explaining that I’d like the second one just in case I made a mistake) and I also requested 2 forms my Father-in-law, who lives in Tennessee.
By the time I’d given her the addresses, thanked her for her time and bid her to “Have a good day”, she’d seemed to warm up a bit in the tone of her responses to me. I thought that maybe that was a good sign that I’d earned her good graces and might get the forms a bit quicker.
Well, so much for my first effort to speed things up. The 1 month mark came and went with no forms in my mailbox. A couple of days later, I saw a post from silverscreamer that he (or she) had ordered the application on 7/26, which was a Sunday - so I assumed that the order was placed from the ATF website. He received the forms on 8/29. I postulated that maybe they send the forms in batches and mine should come any day.
Sure enough, my forms arrived 9/1.
In with my 2 application forms was some sort of “picking ticket” that showed my name, order number, and among other things, a date of 8/6. The envelope was postmarked 8/31 and sent from Hyattsville.
So, the takeaway is - apparently they send the forms out in batches. More than likely, where your request falls in the cycle is what determines when you get them - not whether you make your order online or by phone.
This post has gotten long enough - I'll make another post on my strategy for getting the approval done faster than the typical 6-12 weeks.
Thats fantastic! 
